Texas

Granite Shoals deer management program OK’d for second year, Daily Trib.com, April 4, 2017During its regular March 28 meeting, the Granite Shoals City Council approved a second year of the program that uses a small number of qualified bowhunters to kill white-tailed deer within the city limits. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department helped create the program. City Manager Ken Nickel said the program was successful in its first year, so it was no-brainer to approve it for a second round, noting it has even caught the attention of other Texas cities.

Group seeks sterilization program to control Lakeway’s deer population, Statesman, Dec 22, 2016DeNicola said he has seen reductions in deer populations in several cities in which he’s started sterilization programs. But the sterilization pilot program would be considerably more expensive than funding a deer survey and more expensive than the city’s existing Trap, Transport and Process program, for which the city budgets $33,000 annually. Cross has set her sights on an estimated $88,000 for the sterilization program for the first year, with costs predicted to decrease in subsequent years.

TPWD merits support in fight against chronic wasting disease, MySA.com, June 19, 2016The fairest way to deal with the threat of chronic wasting disease is not to expose the rest of the state’s wild deer herd to this fatal disease, but instead to take all necessary steps to control and limit the spread before it is too late

Nonprofit pays for deer census, Statesman, June 16, 2016Lakeway-based nonprofit organization Citizen Advocates for Animals received approval from Lakeway city staff to have a deer survey performed within the city, provided they pay for the process themselves. The biologist may then propose a nonlethal deer population control method alongside the city’s current trap, transport and process system, but Citizen Advocates for Animals would be responsible for funding the nonlethal program.

New CWD Cases Discovered at Captive Deer Breeding Facilities, Texas Parks And Wildlife News Release, April 4, 2016Two new cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Texas captive deer, including the first confirmed from a live test tonsillar biopsy sample, have been validated. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) are conducting an epidemiological investigation into these new cases.

Deer disease confirmed in Hartley Co., WALB, Feb 28, 2016HARTLEY COUNTY, TX (KFDA) – The first case of a disease fatal to deer has been confirmed in the Panhandle. A free-ranging mule deer in Hartley County tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD).

Eradication is believed to be impossible once the disease is established in a population.

Group petitioning Lakeway to change ‘inhumane’ methods of managing deer population, Fox7.com, Austin, Feb 16, 2016“Any animal that gets a net dropped on them, any animal that gets its horns cut off, any animal that gets picked up and put in a trailer upside down that’s traumatized you know?” said someone in the video.(PETA)Granite Shoals studies bowhunting as deer population control within city, Daily Trib, Jan 28, 2016During a workshop Jan. 26, members of the Wildlife Advisory Committee recommended the city adopt a pilot wildlife management harvesting program for the deer population. The program calls for a team of 10 archery hunters. “There are very a select number of properties with very few houses around them,” City Manager Ken Nickel said. “Safety is the ultimate goal.” The city has been grappling with how to address the burgeoning white-tailed deer population. The council created the Wildlife Advisory Committee in 2014 to study ways of addressing deer numbers. The committee held town hall meetings to solicit resident input as well as worked with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials.

“Our main goal is to have a healthy deer population and to minimize the negative impacts on our residents,” he said. “We don’t have a number [to trap].”

Jones said city staffers were told by a TPWD biologist that a census of the deer population will not provide reliable information in an urban environment.

Temple Police ID man killed in deer accident,TDTNews.com, Dec 7, 2015Fields was driving a black Hyundai when a deer running across the road collided with a silver Nissan, vaulted into the northbound lane and entered the Hyundai’s windshield. Fields died at the scene.

A Hill Country Safety Hazard – Deer Overpopulation, Texas Hill Country, Dec 7, 2015…the population of deer, at least in the Delaware Springs area, has quadrupled. It has just exploded. There are some folks that feed deer directly in their driveway. About 5 o’clock in the evening, there will be 30 or 40 deer roaming across the road.”

4th case of chronic wasting disease confirmed in South Texas, MySA, Aug 15, 2015A fourth case of chronic wasting disease has been confirmed in deer in South Texas. The latest infected deer was raised in Medina County at the same ranch as the other three animals, prompting an increase in testing of both captive-bred and hunter-harvested deer statewide.

Are we helpless?

"The native plants are tramped down, the bushes are gnawed, and my three-year-old grandson can't play in the back yard because of the deer droppings. If humans entered our property and exacted such a toll we would have legal recourse We're watching the curb appeal and property value decline at a time when our taxes are rising. We are without defense."
M. Holland, Ann Arbor resident